For the exploration of the arteries, flexible sounds are often used, which are pushed from the outside along a metal guide. The form of these sounds and their flexibility are adapted to the vessels to be explored, but it remains generally difficult to move the sound past bends or forks.
One of the aims of the invention is to propose a sound whose end is orientable from the outside. Another aim of the invention is to provide, for this sound, means of orientation control which are particularly flexible.
Moreover, there are specialized sounds which have a particular form for the exploration of certain vessels such as the coronary arteries. Among these sounds there are, for example, the sounds of Judkins, Bourrassa, Amplatz, Cobra, etc. type. For each of these types of sound there is a family of five or six models adapting to the various sizes of the organs, for example, or to certain types of deformations of the organs. These families of sounds are characterized by a single general appearance but by different curvatures at the level of an elbow, for example.
Another aim of the invention is to reduce the number of models of sounds in each family by providing a single sound whose curvature can be modified from the outside to insure its adaptation to most of the clinical cases encountered.